Violin



(No Model.)

B. BERLINER.

VIGLIN.

No. 244,730. Patented July 26,1881.

Witncssea luv/677x607:

N. PETERS. PhMwL-imographer, Wuhing'uu. D C.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE,

EMILE BERLINER, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS,

VIOLIN.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 244,730, dated July 26, 1881.

Application filed May 7, 1881. (No model.)

To all whom "it may concern:

Be it known that I, EMILE BERLINER, of B0ston,.in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain Improvements in Violins or other Stringed Instruments,of which thefollowing is a specification.

This invention relates to violins and other stringed instruments employing a resonant body and a finger-board, and has for its object to effect certain improvements in the line of the subject-matter of Patent No. 242,585, granted to me June 7, 1881. In the application mentioned I have described and illustrated a new method of stringing violins, consisting, briefly, in dispensing with the tail-piece common to ordinary violins, to which the strings are attached, and prolonging the finger-board to a point through an opening made in the said prolongation, then attaching the strings to the free end of the prolonged finger-board and running them over the bridge to the straining-pegs, thus eliminating the strains incident to the construction and stringing of the ordinary instruments. I mention in the said patent and show by drawings a method of securing the finger-board to the neck-piece of the violin by a rivet securely headed at each end to render the said finger-board and neck in effect one piece, and to resist the pressure which tends to separate the two when the strings are strained.

My present application relates to improvements in violins and other stringed instruments constructed and arranged as described in said patent, and particularly to the means for connecting in a rigid manner the fingerboard not only to the neck, but also to the body of the violin, between the bridge and the neck.

To these ends my invention consists in the following, reference being had to the drawing forming a part of this specification.

In the drawing, which represents a longitudinal section of a violin, A is the resonant body; B, the neck-piece; O, the finger-board, elongated as described in the patent referred to. D is the bridge rising through the opening 1) in the finger-board. B is a non-resobelow the bridge, the bridge rising in the usual manner. E is a screw or pin having its head countersunk into the top of the finger board and passing through the body of the violin,preferablythrough the nonresonant block 13, and having upon its lower end a washer and thumb adjusting-nut, as shown.

I place the screw E as far as possible toward the bridge and pass it through the body of the violin, preferably through the non-resonant block I3,in order not only to shorten the leverage of the elongated finger-board to which the strings are attached, but also to prevent all direct strain upon the neck, which, in ordinary violins, is simply glued to the body of the violin at c, and could not long sustain the strain which my elongated finger-board and string-holder would exercise upon it, as I have found practically such strain would force the body of theviolin from the neck at the point a.

By means of the adjusting-nut d, I am enabled to bring more or less pressure to bear upon the bridge, thereby regulating the pressure under which the stringvibrations are communicated to the body of the violin. The screw not only serves to prevent the body of the violin from being forced from the neck, but also to transmit the string-vibrations to said body.

I am aware that a patent for a violin has been granted wherein is shown an elongated finger-board to the ends of which the strings are secured, and which is connected to the body of the violin by a screw; but said fingerboard is not of the same character as mine and does not effect the same result; also, the said screw is not in the position of the screw referred to in the foregoing specification, but is placed below and outside of the bridge.

What I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. A violin or similar stringed instrument in which the vibrations of the strings are communicated to the resonant body by a screw or pin, which passes into the violin-body between the bridge and neck, substantially as described.

2. In aviolin or similar stringed instrument, an elongated finger-board to the end of which 5o nant block, attached to the body of the violin the strings are secured, and which is connect- IOO ed to the body of the violin by a, screw or pin In testimony whereof I have signed my name between the bridge and neck, as set forth. to this specification, in the presence of two sub- 3. A violin or similar stringed instrument scribing witnesses,this 29th day of April, 1881. I0

in which the string-holder is secured to the EMILE BERLINER. 5 body of the violin bymeens of a screw and ad- Vitnesses justing-nut, which passes through the body J. B. HENGK, J r.,

between the bridge and neck, as set forth. J. D. LOOKWOOD. 

